


You Used to Be Cool

by SpaceShaolin



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 02:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9694856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceShaolin/pseuds/SpaceShaolin
Summary: Amethyst missed Garnet - like, really missed her. Just because Rose was gone, didn't mean G had to disappear along with her.





	

When Rose disappeared, she wasn’t the only friend Amethyst lost. Greg and Garnet, formerly major citizens in her City of Cool, had gone along with her, leaving Amethyst as the only fun one left. Now, they were both so boring and grown-up, she hardly even recognized them anymore. Pale shadows of the original, and all that.

Total bummer.

But hey – at least Steven was here! Steven made everything better for Amethyst. She couldn’t wait for him to grow up, so that they could actually talk… but at the same time, she hoped he wouldn’t grow up _too_ quickly. Wouldn’t want him to end up like his dad or his favorite Crystal Gem right away.

Yeah, that was a bummer too. Steven had a favorite and it wasn’t her, it was Garnet. Garnet, who never said more than two sentences to him at one time. Garnet, who always let the nasty Pearl have her way with him. Garnet, who became ultra-boring and super-sad the minute he’d been born.

“Man, what’s it gonna take for you to love me?” Amethyst pulled a face and Steven immediately giggled.

They would always have the Amethyst Shapeshift Specials. She hoped he never got tired of those.

“Like this one better, huh?” she said, morphing her face into Garnet’s, complete with huge hair and shiny glasses. Steven clapped his hands at this. “Heh, knew it. You’re way too predictable, Steven. Gotta learn to keep a little mystery like _Garnet._ ” She rolled her eyes behind the makeshift shades, before morphing back to her normal self.

She couldn’t say she blamed him for liking Garnet. Everyone liked Garnet, even if she wasn’t half as cool as she used to be anymore.

“Never mind her, Steven,” she said. “Just take the lead from good old Amethyst. _I’ll_ show you what cool is.”

Steven cooed back at her in response.

“Eh, that’ll do.” She shrugged, then hoisted him into the air. Bet Garnet didn’t know Steven loved flying the airplane. Of course, it was much better if Greg did it, but that was only if he got his head out of his stupid van to stop moping.

Well, okay. So losing Rose was tough. It was tough on all of them. But maybe it shouldn't even be that big a deal, 'cause Steven was already here! Seriously, how anyone could mope with a cool, little guy like this around was beyond Amethyst. Baby humans were a riot – and totally gross, too. Amethyst loved every bit about Steven, burps and all.

Steven was something to call her own – _finally_ something she could really say was almost like her. Both from earth, both outsiders in that tight little circle the older gems liked to put themselves in all the time… their similarities were almost uncanny. Who cared if she had no idea how to take care of the kid? She was at least still the only one who could really get _near_ him anyway, and this was something Amethyst had learned to take as a victory on its own.

You had to take what you could get with these guys.

Of course the Crystal Gems were cool and all (well, maybe except for Pearl), but you’d think they could learn to grow a little, now that Steven was with them now.

“You know I’ll always hang with you, Steven, right?” she said, not really expecting him to respond, but pausing a beat before continuing. “If they won’t do it yet, then I will.”

She wasn’t sure she could be the _responsible_ gem Pearl wanted her to be for Steven. But she could be the _fun_ one she was sure the little guy needed right now. She knew she needed it too, after everything that’s happened.

But Steven came first.

That’s the way things were supposed to be in this temple, after all. Even if Rose wasn’t here with them anymore. And if the others weren’t going to help her with it, then Amethyst was on her own.

This suited her just fine. She could handle Steven just fine on her own, no sweat. For a couple thousand years, she'd lived with nothing else but unresponding rocks. So, really - what was the difference between then and now?

* * *

Pearl was a regular old stick in the mud, even back then.

Not Garnet. Garnet was different. Garnet was _cool._ Always played around with Amethyst when Rose was busy or when Pearl was being Pearl. G-Squad always, _always_ had her back, even when she wasn’t supposed to be picking sides.

But things were different now. Because now, Garnet wasn’t any of those things anymore. She’s a lot sadder now. A lot more lame. Seriously uncool.

All because Rose wasn’t here anymore.

…

Okay.

Okay. So that one was bad, even for Amethyst. She made funny faces for baby Steven to make up for it. Even threw in a classic Amethyst Shapeshift Special, just ‘cause she felt like it. That one would’ve made Garnet laugh.

Not that it mattered now, because Steven was drooling and clapping his hands real hard to show how much he loved the Amethyst Shapeshift Special. She grinned at his reaction. Forget Garnet – Steven was so much cooler than she was! How could anyone be so sad when this little guy was so… not?

Losing Rose was bad, sure, but Amethyst thought she’d already spent way too much time moping about it. Time well wasted, when she could’ve been spending it goofing off with this guy instead.

“Looks like it’s just you and me now, little man,” she said, giving him her finger to chew on. His drool was seriously the grossest, sickest thing ever, and she wanted it all on her finger. She pouted when Steven pinched her finger instead of putting it inside his mouth like she’d hoped. “Just you and me,” she repeated. “And maybe Garnet too, when she feels like it.”

Steven made a little sound in response, like he was expecting her to keep her promise or something.

She sighed. “But it ain’t up to me. You know that, right?”

Steven made the little sound again, but he finally put Amethyst’s finger in his mouth, making the grin come back alive on her face.

“Well,” she said, “I guess I _could_ try to get her here for you.”

She was sure Steven couldn’t understand her, but she could almost swear he smiled a little more at that.

* * *

Garnet ended up playing with Steven, eventually. About time too, Amethyst was starting to feel like Steven was getting tired of her anyway.

The bad news was, Pearl had to go and get involved again, so now, all the fun things Amethyst had planned for Steven and Garnet and her to do for the day got cut in, like – _half._ Stupid Pearl and her Pearl-ness.

“You can’t blame her,” Garnet said, chuckling when Steven laid a curious palm on her shades. She gently tugged his hand away and bounced him on her lap. “She just wants what’s best for him, like us.”

“Wants what’s more _boring_ for him, more like.” Amethyst huffed, but stuck out her tongue when she caught Steven looking her way. “I can’t stand it, G,” she said, returning to the conversation when something else on the floor attracted Steven’s attention. “He’s supposed to have _fun,_ y’know? Not be all boring and stuff. What if he grows up like Pearl?”

“Then we’ll still love him no matter what,” Garnet answered without skipping a beat.

But the ease with which she’s answered annoyed Amethyst instantly. “Ugh. That was supposed to be a joke, Garnet. You didn’t have to take it seriously.”

But Garnet was apparently done talking with her for the day, choosing instead to give her a look before turning back to Steven.

Somehow, this angered Amethyst even more than anything else Garnet could have told her. She felt a million answers buzzing around in her head, just waiting to fly out of her mouth. But if Garnet wasn’t going to talk to her – fine.

Amethyst turned on her heel and stomped back to her room. She was fully aware of how she looked, but chose not to care about it. She couldn’t say she was surprised when even this didn’t provoke anything out of Garnet. But it still sucked to have the door slam in front of an unaffected, uncaring audience.

* * *

She’d been getting ignored by the others lately, which was fine, really. Amethyst could deal with it. But to get ignored by _Steven?_ This was a whole other thing. What happened to them? Just when she thought they had something special.

“It’s probably just as well that he does, too.”

Oh, right. Pearl’s fault. Why was this still such a big surprise?

“Amethyst, who knows what he’ll pick up from you? I think it’s better he listened to _me_ first.”

Ugh, was she still talking? Pearl didn’t even want Steve around in the first place, so what was she talking about now? Amethyst missed Sad Pearl. At least Sad Pearl never talked at _all,_ which was really way cooler than now –

Amethyst held that thought and tried to shut it off completely.

Crap. Did she say that out loud?

The devastated look on Pearl’s face told her that she had.

Crap.

Now, even Garnet was standing up from the couch to give Amethyst the good, proper hard look she deserved.

 _Double_ crap.

“Look, I know what I said, alright?” she began immediately, already in damage-control mode. “But trust me, none of that’s as bad as –”

“That’s enough, Amethyst.”

Amethyst shut up.

“Apologize,” Garnet ordered. “Now.”

Amethyst flinched, but felt her nails digging holes in her palm. Just who did Garnet think she was anyway? Bossing everyone around like it was _her_ job and _her_ business, when it was really supposed to be…

“You’re not Rose,” she said, taking satisfaction in the shocked look on their faces. “You don’t get to tell me what to do!”

“Amethyst!” This time, it was Pearl who opened her mouth.

But she’s already had enough of this, so she scowled at them all before trudging off to her room. There was no point in continuing the conversation anymore, and if Amethyst could end it on her own terms, then that was fine. She rarely ever got a moment like this with both of them running the show anyhow. Might as well get out now, while the going was still good.

Steven was lucky he was still with Greg. She’d hate for him to see Pearl crying so hard like that, or Garnet smashing a chair in anger. Amethyst smirked at this, even if she knew she wasn’t supposed to. She was a born rebel – and so were they, right? What was the harm in taking a little joy from this?

She’d finally made Garnet pissed enough to break something. At last. It was time she showed any real emotion besides that fake leader stoicism anyway.

And what a load of _bull_ that was too. If Garnet was worth anything, then she should just square up and own it. So the others knew she was still there. So they would know everything would still be fine. So Amethyst knew she wasn’t alone.

She sniffed and wiped a stray tear from her eye, finally allowing herself to slide to the floor as soon as she was alone in her room. She was sure she’d won that last round, but Amethyst couldn’t remember feeling this _lousy_ after winning anything.

* * *

Nobody really felt like talking to each other after what happened, which – fine, okay, so it was totally Amethyst’s fault. She felt super bad about it, even now. When she tried defend herself to herself and _failed,_ that’s when she knew she messed up bad. No matter what lame excuse she came up with, Garnet’s face appeared to make her feel even worse and more disappointed with herself.

Saying such mean things to Pearl wasn’t as fun as Amethyst expected.

It all felt lousy and low, and she knew she wasn’t going to be doing it again for a while. How did she think that was a good idea at the time?

Okay, so maybe sitting at the edge of the cliff to brood wasn’t a good idea either, if Amethyst stopped to think about it. But she needed the fresh air, and hey, maybe even Steven did. Besides, if she ever fell off with Steven still with her, she’d make sure nothing happened to him.

Not when it was obvious she wasn’t going to be anyone’s pick in a life-or-death situation like that one.

“Sometimes I think you’re the only one who still wants me here, you know?” She poked a gentle finger at Steven’s nose. He slept on in her arm. What a guy. Internal depression plaguing her and all that, and he was still so unaffected. Who knew what he’d be like when he actually got older?

“That’s not true.”

Amethyst turned around, not able to hide her surprise to see Garnet walking towards her, like nothing majorly terrible had happened. Amethyst was even more surprised when Garnet moved to sit beside her on the cliff’s edge, letting her legs dangle into the long space below.

“This isn’t safe,” Garnet started.

“You’re doing it too,” Amethyst returned.

“Hm. But if Pearl saw us out here, it’s you she’d tell off.”

When Amethyst failed to rise to the bait, Garnet turned to face her. Amethyst darted her eyes towards her to take a look. Garnet wasn’t even fazed she didn’t continue the joke. Just the same, solid face she pulled for every occasion.

“Is – is she okay?” Amethyst asked. Then, cleared her throat a little when Garnet didn’t answer. “Pearl,” she continued. “Is she okay?”

“You should ask her. Apologize properly.”

It sounded like an order, but the gentleness in Garnet’s tone softened it and made it seem more like a suggestion instead. A very firm suggestion, but at least she wasn’t being bossy about it. Gave Amethyst a little space in the matter, which was what Garnet really should have done from the start.

“So? What are you doing out here? She send you out here to talk to me or something?”

No answer again. Big surprise. Fine – if she wasn’t going to fill in the silence, then Amethyst would. Talking was all she was good for, anyway.

“I’m sorry about what I said, okay?” she said. “But I’m still right about it, I don’t care what you guys think. Ever since Rose, you haven’t been doing anything but _cry_ about it, so y’know, that doesn’t really leave me with anything else to do. And what about Steven? It’s like he isn’t even here, and you’re both missing out on how cool he is!”

Garnet laid a hand on Steven’s head. If she wasn’t being half as gentle as she was then, she would have smothered his entire baby face. Amethyst snorted at the thought.

“I think Steven’s cool,” Garnet said.

Amethyst beamed. “I know, right?” she said. “He _drools_ and everything. Pearl doesn’t like him, but I knew you’d like him as much as I do.”

“Pearl likes Steven. She just needs time to get over what happened.”

“How much longer does she _need,_ G? She’s done nothing but be sad and junk since Rose.”

“And you’ve been doing nothing but get angry at everyone since Rose,” Garnet returned, her voice so soft, Amethyst could have almost chosen to ignore it if she wanted.

“And _you’ve_ been nothing but boring since Rose!” she said. “What happened, Garnet? You used to be fun and cool and now, you’re just not. You’re just like Greg, you know that?”

She expected Garnet to get angry again at this, but the outburst did nothing to crack a dent in that unbreakable face. Too bad. Amethyst was kind of hoping for a repeat of last time, if only to see Garnet be anything other than this.

“You’ve changed just as much. It’s okay to get angry about it, but you shouldn’t be taking it out on everyone.”

Amethyst snorted. “Shouldn't be taking it out on _Pearl,_ you mean.” She shook her head when she saw Garnet’s jaw clench. “Honestly, G, you’re so transparent.”

She supposed that if it weren’t for Steven’s presence then, Garnet would’ve exploded. _Really_ exploded, as in more than just breaking a chair-exploded. Pearl really did bring out everything in that gem, for better or worse.

“You’re not being fair, Amethyst,” Garnet managed. “We can’t all move on if you’re going to hold us back like this.”

Oh, _now_ Amethyst was steamed. But she remembered she was still holding Steven – and right at the edge of a cliff, even – so she was careful not to go all-out. “ _Me?_ Holding you back? I knew it, that’s all you guys ever thought about me, huh? Well, I’m _sorry_ I wasn’t there at that crummy war with the rest of you!”

She didn’t even mind when Garnet smoothly took Steven from her arms. Whatever, so what if she had become unreliable to hold on to him too?

“What’s the point of your stupid future vision when you can’t even see how I’m feeling?” she said, all in one breath, slumping now with all the fight gone out of her. Honestly, Amethyst just felt so _tired_ at this point. How long was she going to have to keep this up? She didn’t care anymore. If Garnet wasn’t going to do anything about that, then fine. Whatever, right?

Amethyst hadn’t even realized she’d been glaring down at her shoes until a warm hand held her shoulder, making her look up.

Garnet wasn’t smiling and she still had her shades on, but Amethyst liked to think her eyes had that same funked-out expression her own reflection was showing back to her.

“I’m working on it,” Garnet said, but it didn’t sound like anything much to Amethyst.

Garnet seemed to pick up on this, so she said it again. “I’m going to work on it. So will Pearl. So will you. We’ll all need to work on it for Steven’s sake.”

That put Amethyst out a little bit. So they weren’t even going to do it for each other. Alright, that was cool too. She’d take whatever she could get. Mistaking her silence for some kind of affirmation, Garnet nodded her head and took her hand away from Amethyst’s shoulder.

“I’m not Rose,” Garnet said suddenly, quietly. So quiet, Amethyst might have let it pass and let life go on like she hadn’t heard it. But before she could say any more, Garnet continued. “I was never trying to be Rose. You have to know that.”

“You don’t need to tell me that, G.” Great, now Amethyst was starting to feel horrible again. “Look, forget I said any of that, okay? You’re cool. Great! All that fun stuff.”

But Garnet shook her head. “I just wanted you to know,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Amethyst said again, not sure if she was ever going to stop saying it. “I - I’ll work hard too. Won’t try to look for Rose anymore or anything.”

“We won’t have to,” Garnet said, running a hand through Steven’s hair. “She’s still here. Right here.”

Amethyst nodded, still not sure how _that_ worked, but she’ll try to believe it anyway.

“We’re sending Steven off to Greg’s for a while,” Garnet said. “I’m running the idea by you to see what you think.”

Okay, even Amethyst had to admit – this caught her by surprise. “What for?” she said. “You don’t want him anymore?”

Garnet shook her head. “It’s too soon for him here,” she answered. “Too soon for us. Don’t worry, he’ll only be there until we’re ready for him.”

Amethyst chuckled at that. “Don’t you mean until he’s ready for us?”

Here, Garnet cracked a smile. Amethyst was glad to see she could still make her do that. “Okay,” Garnet agreed. “Until we’re all ready for each other.”

“Sounds good to me. But what are we gonna do in the meantime?”

Garnet heaved a sigh and looked behind her, towards their home. “Fix the temple. Clean things up some. There’s still a lot to do here.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“Fix ourselves up too. We’re going to have to live with each other for a long time, unfortunately.”

Amethyst snorted. So Garnet still had her sense of humor. Just needed the right timing and the right gem to draw it out, after all this time.

“I didn’t know you still had it in you, Garnet!” Amethyst said, laughing out loud. “Thought your jokes disappeared somewhere in that hair of yours.”

Garnet shrugged. “I try.” She pushed her shades up her nose.

“What say you try fixing that up too, while Steven’s away?” Amethyst suggested. “Right? You fix your jokes, I’ll fix myself, Pearl can fix… whatever. Her crying? I don’t know.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Garnet said, nodding. “But you don’t need to fix anything. You’re fine just the way you are.”

Amethyst gagged. “Ew, gross,” she said. “Mushy’s not a good look for you, G.”

Garnet grinned – _really_ grinned, like that one was really funny. Well. Amethyst had to hand it to herself, she could be drop-your-pants hilarious, if she really wanted to.

“We’ll _all_ work hard. When Steven gets back, we’ll be ready.”

And that, if anything, sounded like a sure promise to Amethyst – so strong, so reassuring, and so _Garnet,_ she had to grin along with her.

“Sure thing, fearless leader.” Amethyst snapped a salute. “Whatever you say, you’re the boss.”

But there was no longer any heat to this, because it wasn’t as if Amethyst wanted to be the leader anyway. All she wanted was for Garnet to stop acting like what she thought a leader should’ve been, because honestly, that just wasn’t her.

Amethyst needed G-Squad to be cool again. Garnet needed Amethyst to be the fun one again. If it was going to be for their little rock star Steven, then Amethyst didn’t think they would have much trouble doing those things.

Garnet seemed to think the same, but didn’t say as much, offering only a smile and a thumbs-up.

For Amethyst, this was already worth more than any fancy speech Garnet - or Rose - could have said.


End file.
